A Blessingway for Rachael

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of hosting a Blessingway (or Motherblessing) for my friend Rachael.

Blessingway ceremonies create a sacred and safe environment where a mother-to-be can explore the challenges and joys that lie before her as she approaches birthing and mothering. Surrounded by the most important women in her life, she gains a sense of power, confidence, and support that will help her rise to motherhood.

Birth is a key life passage for women. But modern culture has become preoccupied with the arrival of the baby-to-be and has lost touch with birth’s profound impact on the expectant mother. While our most common birth preparations focus on getting women physically ready to give birth, the blessingway ceremony helps a woman to prepare mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for the work of birthing, and it opens her to her instinctive abilities, which will guide her as she steps into the role of mother.( Blessingway Book)

As henna is being incorporated into modern culture, new traditions are being created. One new way women are using henna is to decorate the belly during pregnancy. This is a wonderful way to celebrate the body’s physical changes during pregnancy and embrace this special time. Baby showers, blessingways and henna parties can be combined into a day of pampering and relaxation for the new expectant mom, her friends, and family. (The Birthingway)

Beautiful Rachael.

She chose to have a Birch tree for her belly henna because “it is the tree of birth and beginnings”.

It is tradition for the women who attend to bring a blessing and a bead for the woman being blessed. Rachael always refers to her baby as chickpea, so I sculpted her a chickpea bead out of polymer clay.

The beads are strung as a necklace and can be worn during labor.

I wrote Rachael a Haiku because traditionally they are focused on nature and human’s place in it, a season, as well as contrast and compare implicitly two events, images or situations. (Wikipedia.) (Photo Haiku inspired by A Foothill home Companion.)

Rachel gifted us candles that we will light individually while she is in labor.

Sharing our blessings and beads for Rachael.

It was truly an honor to be surrounded by these wonderful women, their warm energy and wisdom. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful evening.

Many Blessings on your way into Motherhood, Rachael!

creative play at work

I was able to fill in for a couple extra hours yesterday at the Boutique, which meant bringing Felix. I know I have mentioned before that it can be challenging bringing a baby to work. This time I really put my mind to making games Felix and I could play but that still had an end product/finished task for me.

The most successful of these attempts was reorganizing the hanger rack.

He loves playing with hangers. I get freaked out when he tries to walk with them, but as long as he’s sitting we’re both happy.

He enjoyed discovering that the card rack spins.

Climbing into empty spaces is fun too.

I tried peaking his interest in playing with some silky scarves and a basket to no avail. Hangers are much cooler.

There are still frantic moments here and there, but Felix and I are learning how to make work days run smoothly and dare I say, enjoyable.

Lastly, have I mentioned how awesome my boss is? It’s such a relief to be able to bring Felix with me when I need to. Shop local! In doing so, your supporting wonderful businesses run by brilliant people, like Sandhya.

the little things.

Felix and I spent the day at the park with friends today. It is so nice for Felix to be around other kids and for me to equally enjoy spending time with their parents. I’m so thankful we’re fortunate enough to have found such a wonderful community of families!

Just before we were getting ready to leave the park, Felix signed to nurse. He nursed for about 2 minutes before falling asleep. I slung him on my back and carried him home in the ergo. I was able to lay him right down in bed. Here he is after lots of fresh air and friends. This is the kind of sleep we love!

Mid-Summer Etsy Sale

I had Felix with me at the Boutique yesterday. Working with a one year old is certainly a challenge. We’ve entered into the age of tantrums and keeping him occupied in a store full of fun colors, shapes, and textures is, well, it definitely keeps me on my toes. We do have fun though and I just have to keep thinking creatively and do a lot of redirecting. He loves when there are customers, likes to walk under the hanging clothing and  I was pleased to see him enjoying his car for a while too (as toys are not nearly as exciting to him as various other things in the store).

In other news, I’m feeling a mid summer urge to get the old stuff into new homes and bring some new stuff into my Etsy shop. Starting today, everything in my shop is 50% off their original price. If you mention red recliner when making your order, I will ship it for free!

Have a great weekend!

Couscous Salad

The recipe for this dish was in this month’s print version of Kiwi Magazine.

This was a big hit! It was so tasty- very fresh and summery. We enjoyed it so much we’ve made 2 batches this week.

I was unable to find this recipe on the Kiwi website and didn’t feel like typing it all out, so hopefully the photograph will suffice. We opted to use lentils instead of garbanzo beans and I used half the amount of cinnamon that is called for.

my helper:

I have also been really enjoying seeing Felix play with my baby doll from when I was a child. We brought her home from my parents a few weeks ago, and he picked her out of the pile of other toys that were mine and carries her around from time to time. He likes to give the doll hugs and kisses. She’s a bit heavy for him still, which makes him lugging her around that much cuter.

Party Prep III- party hats and bean bag toss

The Birthday fun continues.

Tomorrow is the party day! We still have tons to do to prepare. Some cooking, cleaning and of course setting everything up outside. Remember when I mentioned being knee deep in fabric last week? I’ve been working day and night on these two projects for Felix 1st Birthday Party.

For the party hats, I wanted something fabric that we could re-use. I came across this tutorial which gave me a great start. In fact I followed most of it. I decided not to use glue, I don’t have pinking shears (they’re on my list though!) and I added an elastic strap to the hat so that it would stay on people’s heads better.

They’re made of 4 circles each.

These were not finished when I photographed them. (and to be honest, I’ll be staying up late to finish a few tonight. eeek.)

I had so much fun with the fabric combinations!

Happy hat model.

My second big project was to make a bean bag toss. Now, I know a lot of people are creeped out by clowns, so sorry if this bothers anyone. But we have a bit of a carnival theme going here, and I just couldn’t resist.

I started with a big moving box and two bags of pearl barley.

sketching it out.

We put the barley in plastic bags first, just to make them a little safer if they do rip open.

Ta-daaaaa. Finished product:

I’m sure I’ll have an update Monday with shots of this stuff in action. Have a great weekend, we sure will!

A Letter to Felix

June 25, 2009

Dear Felix,

Today, we are celebrating your first year with us!

I can still see your beautiful bluish purple body and scrunched up face, fresh from my womb; The way you squinted at the bright lights of your new world that magical day one year ago. I will never forget your latching onto my breast and spending those first few hours, days, weeks staring at you. Watching you grow has been truly incredible. Your neck got stronger, you rolled, you sat, you crawled. Oh and walking. You started 2 months ago- and all of the sudden you’re such a big boy!

I love laughing with you. Your joyfulness has made my life so much fuller and richer. Watching you inspect each new thing you see has helped me re-evaluate and appreciate so many things around me that I can so easily take for granted, like smelling flowers. You smell flowers slowly, with your mouth wide open.

I love how you sign for milk while you’re nursing. Clap your hands and begin to dance when you hear music. Start to beat any cylindrical form as if it were a drum. How you say “oooooooohhhhh” at particular things that catch your fancy, “ouf” when you hear dogs bark, and “uhhh” when you hear a train passing through town.

I love how much you’ve developed into your own person. How you know what you want to do and which direction you want to go. How you’ve figured out ways to tell us how to get you there, like pointing in the direction you would like me to walk.

Seeing you with family makes me happier than you can know. I feel so fortunate that we are able to live so closely to our families. The way you watch your Pappy, reach for and hug your Nani, laugh and giggle with Grandma, play with Baba and interact with your aunts, uncles and cousins brings me so much joy and makes me feel as though there is nothing more I could want in life.

It is sweet how well you play with Elmer and Turnip too. Turnip follows you around for attention and lets you grab her and pet her like crazy. Elmer will bring you his chicken or stuffed toy. I know he always takes the ball from you, but soon you will get his game of keep away and be fast enough to chase him down.

I love you more than I thought possible. Having you in my life has deepened my love for Papa too. I love watching you together. How happy you are to see him when you wake up in the morning, when he gets home from work, even when he enters a room. How oftentimes he is the only person you want to hold you. I love how you two cuddle, sleep, and be silly together. I love to see you kiss papa, mouth wide-open, eyes closed.

I have so many thoughts and emotions about today. But most of all, I am bursting at the seams with love for you. You have lit up my life and made it something so special, something I never expected. I’m thrilled to think of spending the rest of my years watching you grow and learning from you, with you.

Thank you for being you, Felix.

Love,

Mama

This day last year:

(this wasn’t actually taken today, but close enough for now.)

Evening Sprinkler Play

Last night was Felix’ first encounter with the sprinkler.

He loved it!

Elmer did, too.

fabric fun

We’ve been knee deep in a project involving lots of fabric. Felix loves playing with the pieces I have out; especially rolling in piles of it.